VU tennis coach serves up blog posts for the 'Times'

Some journalists try for years to get a shot writing for the New York Times. Vanderbilt women’s tennis coach Geoff Macdonald just needed a phone call.

Serving up a hidden talent, the coach is now writing “Straight Sets,” a tennis blog on the Times’ Web site. (Read it here.)

According to a story at VUcommodores.com, Macdonald has been writing for the past few weeks on numerous topics surrounding the Grand Slam of professional tennis, and with Wimbledon starting Monday, the site has been buzzing with readership.

"I wrote a couple, I enjoyed it and they thought they were decent pieces," Macdonald was quoted as saying in the story.

He got started after he took at call from the Times' Joe Drape during last month's French Open, asking if he wanted to help contribute. The two apparently had met in 2006 when Drape did a story about foreign professionals illegally playing tennis for U.S. college teams.

Macdonald is Vanderbilt's longest-tenured coach, having just completed his 15th season. He played tennis for the University of Virginia and briefly played as a pro 1981-84, including an appearance in the U.S. Open.